Slow Food San Francisco and Slow Food California have received the gracious assistance of Slow Food Turtle Island Association co-founder Melissa Nelson to strengthen our ties with the indigenous fishers on whose lands Slow Fish is scheduled to take place. We have formally asked Ohlone leaders for permission to hold this festival on the ancestral lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone. We have also learned that the San Francisco Bay is shared by other Ohlone and Coast Miwok groups around the bay and to spread the word about Slow Fish and Slow Food.
Slow Fish will invite local leaders to be our honored guests at the festival. We will invite them to give a traditional opening welcome and to speak on a workshop or panel about bay, river, and ocean food issues as part of the festival. We are thrilled to strengthen our relationship with Slow Food Turtle Island Association and look forward to seeing the issues raised by the festival with new eyes and from a broader and richer perspective.
Look for a Turtle Island information table at Slow Fish, too. Learn about the work of The Cultural Conservancy (of which Melissa, Turtle Island Chippewa, is the President/CEO), and others that may be new to you but are aligned with Slow Food in advocating good, clean, and fair food and fisheries for all. And consider attending events sponsored by these allies in the future, which can only further enrich our understanding of the challenges of our food system.
